Change my Name in USA — Remove FNU
I have always been Vivek. I had one given name. Vivek. I had no surname. But in the USA I had documents in many names: FNU Vivek, No Name Given Vivek, Vivek Vivek and Vivek. In 2022, I resolved to change my name from Vivek to Vivek Singh. That is add a surname to my given name of Vivek. This story is the journey of that name change process.
Background: I am an Indian citizen, living in the USA with work visa post my Masters. Most of my documents are of India or the USA.
As I started contemplating further studies in the USA, I started facing issues with my name. For the GRE and TOEFL tests, I had to give my name as Vivek Vivek. Using my only name in both First and Last Name. When I moved to USA for my Masters, I was required to obtain a Student Visa. That’s when I first encountered FNU.
My F1 student Visa was issued in the name of FNU Vivek. But my I-20 and other academic documents were processed in the name of Vivek with no first name. My state issued ID, too. Driver license and SSN were issued in the name of FNU Vivek. OPT EAD with No Name Given Vivek! I adopted FNU Vivek for my day to day tasks. I always had issue with ID verification. Soon, I started hating emails that started with “Dear Fnu”!
Here is the story of how I changed my name from Vivek to Vivek Singh in both India and the USA.
Chronological Summary: Acquire USA court document, publish newspaper ads, change name in passport then with USCIS (I-797). SSN comes next and Driver License after that. All other name changes would require a combination of one or more above documents.
Court Order: First things first, I needed a court document to change my name from FNU Vivek. The process of court document is easy. I went to my local city’s District Court. The court clerk verifies the identity documents, charges a fee and gives an appointment with a judge. Cost is USD 300. On the day of hearing, the judge called out my name and made me take an oath and signed the court order. I procured the court document immediately after. I also took 6 copies for USD 5 each just in case!
Name change on Passport: In order to get the name change on the passport I needed a bunch of documents (listed on Passport Seva Kendra website for Indian embassy in the USA).
- A newspaper ad in my current residential location (in USA)
- A newspaper ad in my permanent residential address (in India)
- Bunch of notarized forms and copies.
- Passport photographs
The interesting part of this story is the Newspaper ads. Publishing a newspaper ad in the USA was easy. I emailed my regional newspaper publication with the request. They gave me a call and we coordinated with documents and fees. It cost me USD 15. I collected some copies of the newspaper a few days later from a local Safeway store for USD 10.
Now, Indian newspapers. Fortunately, I had a long awaited trip to India post-pandemic. Here I acquired newspaper ads for name change in my permanent residence. First I got a sworn affidavit with Executive Magistrate in district court. It cost me USD 8. I used the affidavit to publish name change ad in 2 Indian newspapers each in English and Hindi. That cost 34 USD (It’s funny that a name change ad cost in India and USA is almost same, but a loaf of bread costs 5 times more).
Note: I have read experiences of people using the USA court order to publish ads in India and then having the newspaper office send copies of newspaper to USA for a fee. Saves the trouble of an India trip!
I sent all the documents to Indian Embassy in San Francisco for processing. Of course, this step involved VFS and there were a lot of unnecessary costs and roadblocks with them. It cost around USD 185 to get the passport updated. This is the time I had acquired the first ID with my new name of Vivek Singh.
Social Security: A few months after I got my passport, I had to go back to India again. I enquired CBP (Customs and Border Protection), if I will be able to travel with FNU Vivek name on H-1B Visa and Vivek Singh on passport. They said, “yes, just carry your name change document”. That is the US court document. However, when I traveled back to USA I was not required to produce the name change court document. Anyway this international travel meant I had a new I-94 record in the name of Vivek Singh, my new name.
I asked my employer to change my name with USCIS. They replied that next time they have to send an application to USCIS (I-140 or H-1B extension), the name change will be requested. But soon, I switched jobs. My new job was processed with my new name. They petitioned USCIS for an H-1B transfer. Because of this job change my name in USCIS changed from Vivek to Vivek Singh.
One interesting fact while switching jobs to the new employer is that my initial I-9 verification failed. This is because the name on my SSN was still the previous one. So, I visited the SSA office. They required passport and I-94 for name change. Remember my trip to India, luckily I had a new I-94 in new name! SSA office does not charge a fee for name change.
Driver License: In order to change name in state issued ID or Driver License, SSN name change should have taken effect. I visited DL office with current DL, court order and passport. Name change is immediate and costs USD 22.
Vehicle Registration: I am yet to change my name on Vehicle Registration. The process is to first change the name on the Title. And then change the name on the registration. Since, I have an auto financing on my vehicle. The title is in the name of financing company. I have requested for name change on Title with them. Post that I will visit the Vehicle Leasing Office and get my vehicle registration changed. It would cost around USD 100.
Financial documents: All of these documents in my case were with the name FNU Vivek (the same name in SSN and DL). After my DL name change, I am requesting these institutions to change my name one by one. All have different procedures and require different documents. Generally, if I have my new DL and court document, it is easy. Also, there is no cost to change name.
Indian documents: I was able to self petition name change in Aadhar card using the online portal with my new passport. For PAN card name change I used the updated Aadhar card. I am yet to change name in bank, insurance and academic documents. It may be time consuming, but I am guessing it to be straightforward and at no cost.
Note: If you are looking to change name only in India, then you need to publish a Gazette notification to change the name in your passport. Gazette notification mainly requires a sworn affidavit for name change, newspaper ads and some forms and documents. The process is manual (through mail), requires sending gazette notification text in a CD. Good luck finding a writable CD and a computer with CD player in this age! The costs are around USD 16 or INR 1200.
In summary, working on my name change has taken almost a year now and cost me around USD 800. The biggest fees are associated with passport application and acquiring court order in the USA. The longest time was taken to prepare and process Passport name change application.
I am single, unmarried and have no dependents. I do not have a will or property. I am glad I started this process last year. The more I have waited, the more avenues and documents required name change. If you are thinking about getting rid of FNU from your name or changing your name for any reason, the time to get started is now. I hope you find this story useful. All the best for your name change journey!
So what is the best time for a name change, if needed? It is prior to 10th class. 10th class passing certificate should have the appropriate name. And it will avoid a lifetime of hassle!
